Scottish Parliament

Written Answers

Tuesday 20 July 1999

Scottish Executive

Civil Service

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much the change of name from The Scottish Office to The Scottish Executive is estimated to cost.

Mr Jack McConnell: The main costs are associated with changing the signage on buildings. Other costs include revising the corporate identity on uniforms, headed stationery, publications and redesigning our Internet and Intranet sites. Full and final costs are not yet available but are likely to amount to less than £60,000 in total. This will be offset by improvements in efficiency and small ongoing savings in the region of £17,000 per annum by moving to self printing of headed paper.

Education

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to make available details of which local authorities are currently providing free school milk, including details of the extent of this provision and the annual cost in each case.

Mr Sam Galbraith: Under the Education (Scotland) Act, as amended, all authorities are obliged to provide free school meals, milk or other refreshments for children whose parents receive income support or other income based job seekers allowance.

  Information on the cost of providing free school milk in schools and the extent of the provision is not collected centrally.

Education

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to encourage local authorities to make free milk available to primary school children.

Mr Sam Galbraith: The Scottish Executive is not intending to do so.

  Under the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, as amended, local authorities must provide free milk, meals and other refreshments to children whose parents are entitled to income support or income based job seekers allowance. They have a discretionary power to provide the same to other children.

Education

Mr Keith Raffan (Mid Scotland and Fife) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of three and four year olds in each local authority area are enrolled to attend nursery education provision for the academic year 1999-2000.

Mr Sam Galbraith: Information about the enrolment of children for pre-school education provision is not held centrally. The table below shows the current estimate of the number of grant eligible children who will participate in pre-school education during the first two terms of the next academic year. Local authorities have indicated that they expect to provide places for around 60% of three year old children in the next academic year.

  ESTIMATE OF THE NUMBER OF GRANT ELIGIBLE CHILDREN WHO WILL PARTICIPATE IN PRE-SCHOOL EDUCATION (AUTUMN AND SPRING TERM - 1999-2000 ACADEMIC YEAR)1

  

Local Authority


Estimated number
of eligible pre-school year children 1999/00 2 

Local authority
provisional estimate of pre-school year children
with pre-school education places - autumn and
spring terms 

Estimated number
of eligible 3 year old children 1999/002 

Local
Authority provisional estimate of 3 year old
children with pre-school education place 3 & 4




 
 
 
 
autumn
term 

spring
term 



Aberdeen City


2,329 

2,037 

2,332 

1,195


1,408




Aberdeenshire


2,707 

2,650 

2,668 

800


1,200




Angus 

1,250 

1,125 

1,235 

364


572




Argyll and Bute


952 

957 

931 

206


332




Clackmannanshire


629 

595 

602 

290


440




Comhairle Nan
Eilean Siar 

299 

280 

291 

160


240




Dumfries &
Galloway 

1,664 

1,645 

1,605 

306


509




Dundee City


1,693 

1,700 

1,738 

1,025


1,025




East Ayrshire


1,414 

1,353 

1,415 

600


700




East
Dunbartonshire 

1,249 

1,353 

1,448 

447


547




East Lothian


1,076 

1,295 

1,102 

500


500




East Renfrewshire


1,031 

1,030 

1,027 

364


606




City of Edinburgh


4,997 

4,997 

5,025 

1,835


3,058




Falkirk 

1,677 

1,630 

1,678 

535


798




Fife 

3,964 

3,725 

3,874 

600


1,040




City of Glasgow


7,298 

6,568 

7,531 

2,990


4,983




Highland 

2,441 

2,441 

2,438 

490


820




Inverclyde


1,033 

953 

1,016 

507


562




Midlothian


919 

925 

926 

380


570




Moray 

1,094 

928 

1,079 

356


533




North Ayrshire


1,598 

1,530 

1,614 

400


765




North Lanarkshire


3,975 

3,922 

4,109 

1,066


1,566




Orkney Islands


225 

244 

231 

79


132




Perth and Kinross


1,407 

1,407 

1,423 

626


1,043




Renfrewshire


2,091 

2,000 

2,176 

1,000


1,335




Scottish Borders


1,191 

1,200 

1,168 

290


483




Shetland Islands


303 

296 

279 

262


262




South Ayrshire


1,171 

1,065 

1,145 

300


450




South Lanarkshire


3,532 

3,532 

3,585 

1,110


1,850




Stirling 

929 

936 

961 

430


430




West
Dunbartonshire 

1,154 

1,166 

1,178 

412


582




West Lothian


2,005 

2,000 

2,040 

850


850




Scotland 

59,297 

57,485 

59,870 

20,775


30,191





  Notes:

  1. Information covers the first two terms of the academic year only. Information about the summer term will not be available until early 2000.

  2. Information provided by GRO.

  3. Children become eligible for a grant funded place in the term after their third birthday. Provision for three year olds children will therefore grow each term.

  4. Local authorities expect to be providing places for around 60% of eligible three year old children by the summer term 1999-2000.

Food

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when it envisages the Food Standards Agency being operational in Scotland.

Susan Deacon: Subject to the successful passage of the Food Standards Bill, it is expected that the Agency will become operational UK-wide by mid-2000.

Health

Mr Keith Raffan (Mid Scotland and Fife) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list for each health board area the waiting time being advised to patients for consultancy in (a) ear, nose and throat; (b) trauma and orthopaedic surgery; (c) general surgery; (d) ophthalmology; and (e) gynaecology.

Susan Deacon: The current local outpatient waiting time guarantees for a first outpatient appointment following a General Medical Practitioner referral for the specialties of Ear, Nose and Throat, Orthopaedics, General Surgery, Ophthalmology and Gynaecology by Health Board area, are provided in the table. Information on the performance of Health Boards in meeting these guarantees is published annually in the NHS in Scotland Annual Report.

  The Scottish Executive is committed to set and monitor targets to speed treatment and shorten waiting times. We plan to ensure that this commitment extends to outpatients as well as inpatient and day case treatment and we will consult widely before targets are set. These targets will be closely monitored and will be published. NHS in Scotland: First Outpatient Appointment Waiting Time Guarantees By Specialty And Health Board For 1999-2000

  

Health Board 

ENT 

Orthopaedic 

General Surgery 

Ophthalmology 

Gynaecology 



 
Weeks 

Weeks 

Weeks 

Weeks 

Weeks 



Argyll and Clyde


14 (20)1 

15(20)1 

10 (20)1 

12 (15)1 

8 (15)1 



Ayrshire and
Arran 

9 

9 

9 

9 

9 



Borders 

11 

11 

11 

11 

11 



Dumfries and
Galloway 

9 

18 

9 

9 

9 



Fife 

15 

15 

15 

15 

15 



Forth Valley


9 

20 

9 

12 

12 



Grampian 

18 

12 

12 

12 

12 



Greater Glasgow


20 

20 

20 

15 

15 



Highland 

8 

12 

14 

15 

9 



Lanarkshire


15 

12 

9 

10 

9 



Lothian 

11 

30 

9 

30 

14 



Orkney 

9(*) 

9(*) 

9(*) 

9(*) 

9(*) 



Shetland 

12 

14 

14 

14 

9 



Tayside 

16 

15 

12 

9 

9 



Western Isles


12 

9 

9 

12 

9 




  1 The figures in brackets show the maximum waiting time guarantee where the treatment is to be undertaken in an adjacent Health Board area.

  
 
Indicates that
treatment may be carried out in a number of other
Health Board areas and different waiting time
guarantees will apply.

Justice

Tricia Marwick (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what is the estimated cost to the voluntary sector in Scotland of criminal record checks on volunteers who work with children and young people.

Mr Jim Wallace: Part V of the Police Act 1997 provides for extended access to criminal record checks and planning for implementation is currently underway. At this stage it is too early to estimate the cost to the voluntary sector and we are keeping the matter under review as the project progresses. The checks are not mandatory and it will be for voluntary organisations to decide when a check is required and whether to re-imburse the individual.

Social Security

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there will be a Concordat with Her Majesty’s Government covering Housing Benefits and other Social Security matters and, if so, when the draft concordat will be published and submitted to the Parliament.

Ms Wendy Alexander: Draft concordats have yet to be received from the UK Government. Once they have been considered by the Executive and agreed with the UK Government, they will be presented to the Scottish Parliament for its endorsement before they come into effect.

Tourism

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether, in the light of the review of the funding of area tourist boards announced by the Deputy Minister for Highland and Islands and Gaelic on 24 June 1999, it will provide details of the review’s remit, who will be involved in the review process and when the outcome will be published.

Mr Alasdair Morrison: I intend to write to all those who have an interest in how Area Tourist Boards are funded seeking their views. I will place a copy of our consultation letter in the Parliament’s library.